JVhat Constitutes 

Spiritual Living ? 

By John Goddard 




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OTfiat Constitute* 
spiritual Iftitng 

And how can it be realized 
in the world to-day ? 



BY 

JOHN GODDARD 

Minister of the New- Church 
at Newtonville, Mass. 



* 



NEW-CHURCH BOARD OF PUBLICATION 

3 West 29TH Street 
new YORK 



• &5753 



Copyright, 191 1, by 
NEW-CHURCH BOARD OF PUBLICATION 



Press of J. J. Little & Ives Co., New York 



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THE solution of these questions 
requires the use of reason, but 
reason in spiritual matters must 
be based upon revelation, and 
thus upon the Bible, the Word of Him 
who is Spirit Itself. 

In the Bible's last great prophecy, we 
read of a "new heaven and a new earth," 
that "the tabernacle of God is (shall be) 
with men," and that there will be "no 
more sorrow, nor crying, nor pain"; but 

i 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

"all things will be made new/' ' Not 
only a new heaven, (hen, hut a new earth. 
The tabernacle of God shall he with mm. 
In more than one sense, this physical 
earth Of ours, as man's dwelling place, 
has already been made new, largely 
through the discovery and application of 
nature's interior forces. If our grand- 
parents could return and witness things 
which are already commonplace with us, 
would they not be tempted to call them 
miraculous, and to exclaim, "Surely, this 

is not the earth we knew?" And in their 

familiarity with, their faith in, and their 
great love for the Bible, might not its last 
promise and ideal picture come to mind? 
"behold, I make all things new." 

1 Rev. gxij i-s- 

2 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

And if they sought farther and looked 
deeper, they would find vastly more that 
would be new — a new activity of thought, 
with new practical applications. They 
would witness the freedom throughout 
nearly the whole world from chattel 
slavery, a new freedom and growing co- 
operation of the masses of the people in 
all lands in matters of government, a new 
and universal system of education, a new 
and world-wide spirit of philanthropy, 
a new religious toleration, — indeed, in al- 
most every direction they would witness 
a complete revolution in what we may 
term practical human thought and life, 
when contrasted with a century ago. 

But some changes would be likely to 
affect them with painful surprise. For 

3 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

example, the huge warships and standing 
armies. As a contrasting picture, how- 
ever, the "House in the Woods" at the 
Hague, and the International Court, 
might be a promising corrective. But, on 
the other hand, the selfish greed of the 
monopolists, seemingly willing to crush 
out competition at the expense of the loss 
of justice and humanity, the substitution 
of machinery for human skill, so hurtful, 
apparently, to the exercise of human free- 
dom, tending to reduce the industrial 
masses to what often seems like a condi- 
tion of helpless dependency, and to de- 
stroy the freedom acquired at such great 
cost — a condition in which the worker 
feels the lack of the human touch of the 
employer, and the employer the lack of 

4 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

power to make use of the human touch 
in the presence of the demands of the cor- 
poration; the spirit, too, in the world of 
general business, which so often appears 
to make might the test of right, and suc- 
cess the standard of righteousness; the 
rule of the unprincipled politician in our 
cities, with its attendant bribery; the 
vastly increased wealth of the few, with 
the idleness, ostentation, luxury, pride, 
uselessness, degeneracy and folly which 
such wealth is apt to bring to the genera- 
tions following, tending mightily to in- 
crease the obstacles to true earthly living 
by setting such an evil example, and to 
obscure if not to blind the eyes both of 
rich and poor to the meaning of spiritual 
living; I repeat, if our fathers could look 

5 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

upon this picture of our modern life, 
would they not add to their comment re- 
specting the prophecy of the new earth, 
this question, "But where is the taber- 
nacle of God with men?" 

We witness the masses of men turning 
from the church which, as they believe, 
is slow to rebuke these offences against 
right living, excusing itself by the claim 
that it deals with the things of the king- 
dom of God and not with the kingdoms 
of men. They are asking not, "What is 
right spiritual living," but "what is right 
earthly living, and how can it be real- 
ized?" They are turning from the 
church, and substituting labor organiza- 
tions, socialistic political parties or moral 
reforms. They are asking, "why talk 

6 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

about spiritual living, when the great 
problem of earthly living, respectable liv- 
ing, and sometimes even of decent living, 
remains unsolved?" 

(i) What is spiritual living? Al- 
though we are taught to pray, "Thy king- 
dom come, Thy will be done on earth as 
in heaven," and while we are to labor 
for the coming of that kingdom as well 
as to pray for it, this union of heaven and 
earth certainly does not mean the union 
of church and state. We must still ren- 
der to Caesar his things, and to God His 
things. 1 Jesus Christ is not to be a judge 
or divider over men. 2 The gospel distin- 
guishes clearly between the religious and 
the secular. But it also tells us that we 

1 Matt, xxii, 21. 3 Luke xii, 14. 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

cannot live two separate lives, ruled by 
discordant motives. "No man can serve 
two masters; ye cannot serve God and 
Mammon." x 

Spiritual living is, first of all, living 
from spiritual motives. The motive life, 
which means the interior and secret life, 
is the vital force, the ruling factor, in all 
living. It decides what the outcome of 
our lives shall be in eternity. Let the 
actions be wholly right, yet if the interior 
or motive life be wrong, that is, ruled by 
a secret self-will instead of the Divine 
will or the Divine law, the life, however 
fair on the surface, is not a spiritual 
life. 

The sermon on the mount furnishes 

1 Matt, vi, 24. 

8 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

an illustration of the laws, or the highest 
laws, of the spiritual or motive life. 
While we may not say that the words, 
"resist not evil," and the direction to turn 
the cheek to the smiter, 1 will never be 
laws for the outer life, we cannot say, as 
did Count Tolstoy, that they are such to- 
day. But they do afford us a picture of 
what the Christian's motive life should 
be — that is, the life of love to the Lord 
and man. And it is set before us at the 
very beginning of the Gospel, as the ideal 
for which we should strive. The love 
of the Lord Jesus Christ and of fellow 
beings, not for what we shall gain by it, 
but for its inherent worth's sake — this is 
the highest definition of the spiritual life 

1 Matt, vi, 38, 39. 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

as far as the motives are concerned. 
There are lower forms of a spiritual mo- 
tive, varying according as it flows more 
or less directly from its Divine source, 
such as, for example, the willingness to 
do right from a sense of duty or through 
self-compelling, in recognition of the Di- 
vine source of right. There may even 
be a sense of fear of the evil results of 
wrong living to self in another world 
mingling more or less with faith in a Di- 
vine Being without wholly destroying 
spiritual character. But to choose good 
or refuse evil merely because it pays in 
this world in the form of success, honor, 
reputation or wealth, is purely earthly, 
because lacking the conception of, the de- 
sire for, or the reaching after, the Divine, 

10 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

which in a germinal form is the gift of 
the Heavenly Father to every child. 

Specifically, then, spiritual life is the 
life of the spirit, or the motive of love 
to God or humanity, or else a motive of 
obedience to Divine laws of right be- 
cause they are right, or else a motive of 
obedience to them through what may be 
called a holy fear, which acknowledges 
God. 

Since in every case the motive life is 
the secret or hidden life, which can never 
be known except to the one who chooses 
it, it follows that the spiritual life is per- 
sonal, or individual. It is not communal 
or racial. It cannot be created by legal 
enactment, nor by social adjustment 
alone. Education cannot attain it. Not 

1 1 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

even spiritual culture can do more than 
prepare a way for it. Spiritual life 
comes down from above, not up from be- 
low. It is born, not of blood, nor of the 
will of the flesh, nor of the will even of 
man, although the will of the individual 
man, responding freely to the will and 
call of God its Creator, is essential to its 
existence and growth. The laws of man 
cannot originate it, while they may help 
or hinder its progress or development. 
Socialism, whether it be in the secular or 
Christian form, cannot compass it. Out- 
ward improvements in community life 
will follow as a result of spiritual living, 
but will not, in themselves, be a cause of 
such living. Spiritual living is motive 
living based, directly or indirectly, on 

12 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

voluntary individual connection with 
God. 

A true spiritual life, then, is the in- 
terior, secret, motive life of the individ- 
ual who responds to the Divine call from 
near or far. 

But while spiritual life dwells essen- 
tially in the motive, it has no real exis- 
tence, or no real growth or power unless 
it descends into the actions, and seeks to 
learn and strives to do, to the best of one's 
ability, the will of God on earth. He 
who has it will not be indifferent to those 
questions which involve the well being of 
mankind on earth. He cannot look upon 
suffering, especially innocent suffering, 
and remain indifferent or unmoved. He 
knows that it is his duty as a citizen to 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

study the questions of justice and right, 
and, not limiting his sense of right to his 
own individual and worldly interests, to 
conform his own course to a just decision, 
even if it involves a complete change in 
human activities and in social conditions 
in general, and his own in particular. 
He knows that he must act for the good 
of all. While Church and State must be 
separate in a legal sense, they cannot be 
separated in the individual without spir- 
itual disaster. The spirit of God and of 
the world cannot rule in the same mind. 
// one's spiritual life does not rule his 
actions, the spirit of self and the world 
must rule his inward life; and this course, 
if persisted in, must drive out or prevent 
the entrance of the Spirit of heaven. The 

"4 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

true follower of Jesus Christ will be in 
the constant endeavor to bring his two 
warring natures into harmony. He will 
not make the prayer, "thy kingdom 
come," a mere form. 

The Christian Church in its decline 
tended to separate the inner from the 
outer life. This tendency assumed two 
forms, one in Catholicism, the other in 
Protestantism. With the Catholic, al- 
most exclusive emphasis was laid on the 
life of outward obedience to priestly 
command, and the power of sacrament, 
while with the Protestant, inward con- 
version by the Spirit of God was the chief 
evidence of regeneration, and the idea 
of good works, or of human co-operation 
as a vital element of the spiritual life was 

15 






WHAT CONSTITUTES 

almost universally condemned. But in 
the new Christianity the will of man must 
unite with the will of God, the outer with 
the inner. The device on the flag of the 
Christian soldier must be, "all religion 
is a matter of life, and its life is, to do 
good." But this will not obscure the idea 
that "no one can do good, which is really 
good, from himself." l 

Spiritual living, then, includes two fac- 
tors. First, an interior, secret, ruling 
love of righteousness, or unselfishness, 
which, more or less directly, is recognized 
as coming from God to the individual 
spirit. Second, the endeavor to realize 
this spirit, or to incarnate itself in all the 
purposes, the thoughts, the activities, of 

1 Doct. of Life, by Swedenborg, chapters i and ii. 

16 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

the daily life in the world. It strives 
to bring the life of love to God and love 
to man forth to view. It seeks to over- 
come the obstacles which it finds, both in 
its own heredity and in the world out- 
side. Love, kindness, purity, honesty, 
justice, truthfulness, that is, the Divine 
commandments, are its tests of conduct. 
The Golden Rule is its all embracing 
law in private dealings. The common 
welfare, as contrasted with selfish exploi- 
tation, is its standard in all its dealings 
with public questions. One who has this 
spirit believes in and trusts in the reality 
and presence of the unseen Helper. The 
ideal of life is to him a vision, not a pale 
and ghostly theory. He is strong in the 
presence of the selfish powers of earth. 

17 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

He has his temptations, his weaknesses, 
his falls. Like Paul, he finds a law in 
his members warring against the law of 
his mind. Like Peter, he may, in seasons 
of provocation or temptation, deny his 
Master, but, like him, he returns with 
bitter tears to confess his fault and to say, 
"Thou knowest that I love thee." 



18 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 



II 

Now how far can spiritual life be lived 
in the world to-day? 

This question may be answered in two 
ways — from the point of view of the 
lower or of the higher life; that is, from 
the outer or the inner realm. We all 
possess, as human beings, germinal affec- 
tions for this higher life, given to us (as 
we shall see later on) in our infancy and 
childhood. These spiritual elements 
come down from heaven. They are the 
gift of God. The most favorable envir- 
onment cannot create them, nor can the 
most unfavorable destroy them. 

19 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

These beginnings of spiritual life must 
be cultivated. Cultivation may take place 
by outward or by inward processes. We 
will think of the outward culture now, 
and first of all, through the creation of a 
favorable environment. 

While a wrong social order cannot 
permanently destroy spiritual life, it 
can seriously interfere with its devel- 
opment. It is, therefore, the plain 
duty of every citizen to help in the 
establishment of a true economic sys- 
tem, or one which will promote the 
common welfare, in distinction from 
a system of special privilege. The effort 
on the part of the individual citizen to 
discover and establish such an order from 

20 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

the motive of justice or love to men is 
one evidence of spiritual life. And not- 
withstanding all the manifold obstacles, 
can we not see that there is a force at 
work to-day tending to establish such an 
order? 

While no social system alone can create 
spiritual life, it is far easier to cultivate 
a true spiritual motive and life in a so- 
ciety built upon a love for the common 
welfare. No spiritually-minded citizen 
can be content to remain passive, and fall 
back upon the idea, so often expressed, of 
the impossibility of changing human na- 
ture. For if Christianity means any- 
thing, it means this change. He will be 
glad that there are some who are giving 
their lives to the study of this great ques- 

21 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 



tion. He will, at least, recognize that 
they are preparing the way for the real 
presence of God in the world which the 
Bible promises, especially in its closing 
chapters, even when their motives appear 
to lack spirituality. Our Lord said of 
John the Baptist, who came to prepare 
His way, that the least in the kingdom 
of heaven was greater than he; and yet 
the prophet declared that but for that 
preparation, the coming of the Messiah 
would prove, not a blessing, but the op- 
posite. 1 And so the Christian citizen, not 
confounding the secular with the spirit- 
ual, will bid God-speed to every effort 
which promises to bring earthly condi- 
tions into harmony with heaven. There 

1 Malachi iv, 5, 6, and Matt, xi, 14. 
22 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

may be some even within the church, 
whom a high motive calls, whom con- 
science calls, whom heaven calls, to do 
this special work; who, like Luther, are 
compelled to say, "Here I stand. I can- 
not do otherwise. God help me." The 
spiritual life of such is bound up with 
their faithfulness to this call of duty. 
There may be those who, like Tolstoy, 
feel bound by conscience to interpret lit- 
erally the spiritual ideals of the sermon 
on the mount, which most of us interpret 
as referring chiefly to the inner life of 
motive. For Tolstoy would resist no evil, 
renounce all property, all luxuries, and 
live on the coarsest fare. While this kind 
of obedience does not necessarily include 
an interior or spiritual motive life, yet it 

23 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

may help to arouse thought which will, at 
last, bring about equitable social condi- 
tions, in which it will be easier than it is 
now to live a spiritual life, at least in the 
form of righteous deeds, and also of spir- 
itual or unselfish motives, which spring 
from an inward recognition of a Divine 
Being and a Divine law of righteousness. 

But few are called upon to be such 
leaders. The practical question is, how 
can average people, who are desirous to 
do right, especially in the realm of busi- 
ness, and in a world ruled in the main 
by the principle of selfish competition, 
combine the inner motive of unselfishness 
with corresponding or unselfish deeds? 

There is a strong tendency to divorce 
the motive from the deed, or to substitute 

24 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

for this inquiry a wholly different one, 
namely, "Can a business man be honest 
and be successful also?" That is, does it 
pay? 

Even in the churches the question is 
quite sure to take this form ; and when an- 
swered in the affirmative (as it generally 
is), it is likely to be the end of the mat- 
ter. Even if it had the effect of making 
men honest in their actions, if they rest 
in the motive suggested by the words, 
"honesty is the best policy," of course, 
in following this motive, they turn en- 
tirely away from the question of how to 
live a spiritual life. For we have seen 
that a spiritual life consists, not of action 
alone, but first and chiefly, of a motive 
force of either love for God and man, or 

25 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

else of duty based on Divine law, and sec- 
ondly, of action governed by that motive. 
But when we reach the conclusion that 
honesty pays in this world's coin, and for 
this reason we do the honest thing, we 
leave out heaven and spirituality alto- 
gether. Then the spirit of hypocrisy in 
the deep meaning of the word is liable 
to enter, that is, the spirit which makes 
an outward show of right, but with a 
hidden purpose not far different from 
that which actuates the man of sharp 
practice. 

And yet, while we are not to stop at 
the conclusion that honesty pays, there is 
a legitimate reason for raising the ques- 
tion of the possibility of success in Chris- 
tian living. As we have seen, the Master 

26 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

does not desire that His children shall 
go out of the world, but only keep from 
its evils. It is right to show that He has 
not demanded impossibilities. It is, how- 
ever, of secondary importance, and will 
be only incidentally alluded to. We will 
return to our main question of how to live 
a spiritual life in the world of to-day. 

There is one great, central, heavenly 
principle which has the power, if ap- 
plied, to unite human law and heavenly 
gospel, motive and deed, religion and 
daily life — the law by which men as well 
as angels may live, namely, the universal 
law of use or service. 

In obedience to this law we find the 
answer to the question of the method (as 
well as the possibility) of living a spir- 

27 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

itual life in this world. Here is the 
main test of the right or wrong of all oc- 
cupations, all actions, as well as all mo- 
tives. As to an action, this law bids us 
ask, u is it of use or service?" As to the 
motive, "am I doing it from a regard to 
service or use, or am I wholly indifferent 
about the service to others, so it ministers 
to my selfish ends?" And this motive of 
being of service in his occupation joins 
heaven and earth in every person. 

There are, of course, all kinds of uses 
or services — higher and lower, heavenly 
and earthly; uses for soul, mind, body; 
uses positive and negative, or those always 
necessary to human advancement and 
those permissible only on account of hu- 
man frailty. 

28 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

To make the principle plain, let us 
first look at it as an ideal. 

Suppose a young man coming to ma- 
turity asking himself, as so many to-day, 
without any decided bent, are compelled 
to do, what shall be his life's work? If 
he is imbued with the principle of which 
we are thinking, he will seek to discover, 
first of all, what he is best fitted for. That 
means, where can such talents as he pos- 
sesses be put to the greatest use, or be of 
the greatest service? He will not seek 
great things if he knows he is only cap- 
able of small things. He will not try to 
do what he cannot do well. He will not 
be ruled by the desire for great returns 
in wealth, or ease, or by the hope of a 
better social position, nor wish to displace 

29 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

one better fitted than himself for a given 
position of usefulness for the sake of its 
honors or emoluments. He will not seek 
first the kingdom of this world, but the 
kingdom of God and His righteousness. 
Having found his work, he will devote 
himself to the thought of service in that 
work and with that purpose will labor 
with diligence, thoroughness and honesty, 
not merely with the motive of advance- 
ment, but more profoundly, yet mostly 
unconsciously, with the thought of faith- 
ful service as an end. Working in this 
spirit, content with the valid returns of 
service, living within his means, he finds 
inward satisfaction ; indeed, the chief joy 
of life, in the peace which comes from the 
unseen realm to every one who is a f aith- 

30 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

ful steward of the talents, few or many, 
which the Master has placed in his hands 
for use. 

Here is the ideal. Every one is cap- 
able of some real service. It is well if 
one is conscious of what his work shall 
be. It is well if he has a decided love of 
a given occupation. Nor is it incompati- 
ble with a spiritual life to cherish a love 
of achievement in that occupation — the 
goal which President Eliot set before his 
students. But the love of an occupation 
alone is purely natural or earthly, while 
the love of use in that occupation, that 
is, the love of service to the neighbor in 
connection with the occupation, is spir- 
itual and heavenly. The love of mere 
achievement, too, is earthly, but the de- 

3* 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

sire to be of larger service through such 
achievement comes from heaven and 
leads back to heaven. Heaven grows in 
the soul of him who strives to be of serv- 
ice. 

The laborer may work merely for his 
selfish reward in money and what money 
buys. He may seek to give as little and 
get as much as possible. All can recog- 
nize the gross selfishness of such a course 
in this case, for it is brought home to 
the commonest apprehension. It is more 
difficult to appreciate the selfishness in 
one who says to himself, "I may get the 
better of my employer for a while by 
idleness or negligence, but I shall ulti- 
mately be found out, and so I will give 
a fair amount of labor, or else I shall 

32 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

lose my job." Yet the same selfish mo- 
tive is present in both cases. But here, 
again, is a person who, apart from any 
spiritual principle, loves to do a perfect 
piece of work. It pains him to have it 
slighted, or to have bad work concealed. 
Of such a one we are almost tempted to 
say, "thou art not far from the kingdom 
of God." And yet more is needed than 
the love of a perfect piece of work. 
There is needed the joy not merely of 
perfect accomplishment, but the joy of 
service through that accomplishment. 
This joy is spiritual. It comes from 
heaven. It is heaven's gift, heaven's quiet 
token of the wondrous joys of God's king- 
dom of unselfish, loving service. It 

33 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

comes to him who has been born again 
— born "f rom above." x 

"Is this real, or is it imaginary?" per- 
haps one is asking. In reply: the writer 
knew a dairyman with an extensive busi- 
ness. Visiting him in the midst of his 
work, just after his work of inspection 
for the day was finished, and the wagons 
had gone out, he quietly remarked (in 
substance), while a happy expression ap- 
peared in his face, "I feel a deep sense 
of contentment, after I have sent out a 
load, that the product is as good as it 
can be made." Only the idea can be con- 
veyed, not the expression nor the tone nor 
the atmosphere. 

We all recognize the character of such 

1 John iii, 3 and margin. 

34 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

a person, whether he be only a "servant 
in the house," or outside the house. 
Through his every act and word the mo- 
tive and life of heaven shine. Each 
added year of life gives to the kingdom 
of heaven within a broader foundation, 
a larger growth. Heart, head and hands, 
the motive, the thought, the deed unite 
in the act of use or service, or love to the 
neighbor. Such a one will always have 
a work to do. If health and strength fail, 
there is always an asylum. And when he 
is gone, all are ready to say, "Well done, 
good and faithful servant." 

But now we approach the more diffi- 
cult question. There is a personal free- 
dom possible to the laborer, the servant, 
the mechanic, and even to professional 

35 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

occupations, which is not so possible to 
one in the mercantile or industrial world, 
especially if he be at the head of an es- 
tablishment. He is largely subject not 
only to the law of competition based on 
selfishness, and to the base methods of 
unscrupulous rivals, but to the passing 
whims and meaningless, empty fashions 
of a fickle public, which is often better 
pleased with the unserviceable than the 
serviceable, with the counterfeit imita- 
tion than with the genuine, with the 
showy than with the useful. Not only 
in the methods of doing business, but 
sometimes in the very nature of business 
itself, there must often seem to be but 
limited room for the heavenly law of use 
or service. 

36 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

There may be those who are strong 
enough, capable enough, influential 
enough to overcome all the temptations 
incident to a business life, or else inde- 
pendent enough to renounce it, change 
the occupation, or give it up altogether. 
But with the average man this is quite im- 
possible. Comparatively few are entirely 
free to choose their occupation in the be- 
ginning, and perhaps still fewer are able 
wholly to control the methods which pub- 
lic opinion sustains or even compels. All 
who are engaged in lines of competitive 
industry agree that ideal methods are al- 
most impossible in the present state of 
the world. 

Here is a case in real life, although 
it is called exceptional. A young 

37 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

woman, clerk in a dry goods estab- 
lishment, is told to misrepresent the 
quality and age of the goods on the coun- 
ter on penalty of dismissal. An aged 
mother and younger children are depend- 
ent upon her. Where does her greatest 
use lie? 

The employer, on the other hand, says 
that he is compelled to these methods by 
competition. He must do as the others 
do or fail. One wrong always leads to 
another. 

Neither employer nor employee is free. 
Here we observe the necessity of the es- 
tablishment of a human law which shall 
support the law of heaven — a law which 
shall deepen and widen the construction 
of the statute forbidding theft, for theft 

38 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

it is. Such a law, strictly enforced, would 
bring all to a common level, where the 
only competition would be that of serv- 
ice, which, of course, includes enterprise, 
activity, intelligence, and fitness for a 
given use. 

But what, meanwhile, shall the suffer- 
ing and helpless employees do? How 
does the law of service or use apply? 
They would ask whether it is more vital 
to serve the public morals or to serve 
their families? The answer is determined 
by the principle already mentioned, that 
the common welfare is more vital than 
that of the individual or the family, and 
especially where it is the welfare of the 
soul. 

Certainly such sufferers should at least 

39 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

never inwardly justify such wrong-doing. 
They should also secure other positions 
as soon as possible, nor scruple to make 
the reason known. Yet a few brave and 
stern refusals to yield to such demands, 
and a few public exposures, would soon 
result in a statute forbidding such a sys- 
tem of falsehood in all its forms. But 
here we recognize again the need of an 
earthly law to support the spiritual. 

Yet we must remember that it is the 
community that is mainly at fault. No 
wide-spread evil can exist without public 
support. The whole responsibility does 
not rest upon the few immediate suffer- 
ers. Their spiritual life is dwarfed, but 
not destroyed by a temporary yielding to 
the wrong under what seems a cruel ne- 

40 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

cessity. Only the destruction of the in- 
ner purpose or motive of right can banish 
the soul from heaven. Far better, how- 
ever, if a few employers or employees 
were willing to be martyrs to the cause 
of right; then would the coming of God's 
kingdom be hastened. Under the condi- 
tions prevailing to-day, however, we can- 
not lay down rigid laws. Spiritual life 
is not wholly destroyed by wrong done 
under compulsion. Fatal evil is that 
which is chosen freely by the will, and 
defended by the understanding. "If ye 
were blind," said the Savior to the Jews, 
"ye would have no sin; but now ye say, 
we see; therefore your sin remaineth." * 
// is possible for all to keep the perfect 

l ]o\\x\ ix, 41. 

4* 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

life before them as an end to be obtained. 
There is power in the affirmation and de- 
sire that it may be attained, while there 
is weakness in the negation that business 
and religion can never be reconciled, and 
that human nature cannot be changed. 
If the prayer that the kingdom of God 
may come and His will be done on earth 
as in heaven means anything, it means, or 
involves, the effort to live, or strive to 
live, as we pray. Instead of the attitude 
of negation, let the business man take the 
affirmative stand, and say, "business and 
religion may and shall be reconciled; I 
will keep on trying; I will do a little bet- 
ter to-day than yesterday; I will think 
more of service, and less of reward; I 
will substitute greater intelligence, en- 

42 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

terprise, industry, economy, method, 
kindly and encouraging words to employ- 
ees for all forms of deceit, cunning, trick- 
ery, harshness, or complaining." If their 
efforts to follow the heavenly law of serv- 
ice or to give an equivalent for value re- 
ceived do not yield great rewards in this 
world, the effort to be true will bring a 
reward far more satisfying. They will 
experience the fact that "a little that a 
righteous man hath is better than the 
riches of many wicked." 1 



1 Psalm xxxvii, 16. 

43 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 



III 

The business life has been especially 
dwelt upon, because its temptations are 
greater or more constant than in most oc- 
cupations. But now we turn to that form 
of the question, "how can the spiritual 
life be lived in the world to-day," which 
bears directly upon the culture of the in- 
ner or spiritual life, and the great com- 
pensations which it affords to those who, 
in a worldly sense, are called unsuccess- 
ful. It is recorded of one of New 
York's early multi-millionaires, whose 
touch turned everything to gold, that 

44 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

on his death-bed, and unable to speak, 
he wrote on a piece of paper, "My 
life has been a failure." How shall 
we live so that, in that solemn hour, we 
may hear, not the voice of condemnation, 
but the voice which says, "Thou hast 
been faithful"? 

In order to cultivate the inner or spir- 
itual life directly, we need, first of all, a 
conviction, and, if possible, a rational 
conviction, of its reality. The means of 
forming such a conviction are, we believe, 
in the world to-day. We may know that 
man is a spiritual being; that human life, 
being essentially different from that of 
animals, requires another and higher 
plane or degree of mentality, which, ac- 
cording to a Bible illustration, we may 

45 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

compare to the highest story or the roof 
of a house as separate and distinct from 
its lowest story, or to a secret realm, 
deeply hidden within the outer and more 
conscious mind, called "the kingdom of 
God" — a kingdom "within you" ; 2 a 
kingdom which is like "treasure hid in a 
field, the which, when a man has found, 
he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and 
selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that 
field." 3 It is this higher and truly hu- 
man feature of life which makes the gos- 
pel writers speak of this world as a tem- 
porary place of sojourn, and not man's 
real home. It is not the mere question 
of a life after death, but of a higher de- 
gree of life within man's animal or lower 

1 Matt, xxiv, 17. a Luke xvii, 20. * Matt, xiii, 44. 

46 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

nature, which is before us. The bird es- 
capes from the egg, and is at once at 
home. The animal is born, and all 
knowledge necessary to its life is born at 
the same time. There are few or no mys- 
teries to be explained. But the kingdom 
of heaven has mysteries. 1 Man is "a 
stranger in the earth," and needs to learn 
the law of true human life. 2 

But feeble as is this higher or spiritual 
realm of the soul, it exists in all. It is 
undeveloped. Its development requires 
human consent, human reason, human ef- 
fort. But the beginnings of it are in all 
God's children. It is not only a poten- 
tial or possible condition, but in our ear- 
liest life, before the age of freedom 

1 Matt, xiii, 1 1 . * Psalm cxix, 1 9. 

47 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

comes, the good angels are said to attend 
the little ones, and, led by the spirit of 
the Master, there are implanted in the 
depths of the then unresisting souls of 
children the dispositions to a pure and 
loving life, and the beginning of a faith 
in the higher realities. Here lies the 
reason for the child's readiness to accept 
the thought of God and of heaven, and 
his quick response to an appeal for kind- 
ness. Here we have the "good seed sown 
by the Son of Man," and here, too, we 
witness the work of the angels of the lit- 
tle ones, "who always behold the face of 
my Father." 1 And even adults, if pure 
in purpose, have similar angelic guides 
and helpers. 2 

1 Psalm xcl, 9-13. 2 Matt, xiii, 37, and xviii, 10. 

48 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

And so, while evil dispositions after- 
wards develop, partly from heredity and 
environment, and partly from the pres- 
ence of evil powers from the unseen 
world, 1 yet with the growth of these tares 
sown in the darkness there comes the free- 
dom of man, through the presence of the 
good seed sown in the light, and the pow- 
er to resist the evil and choose the good. 
And while no one can live the perfect 
life ; while the tares cannot always safely 
be rooted out, and must often remain un- 
til the harvest, yet there is always room 
for choice, both in action and in motive, 
and one is responsible to the extent, and 
only to the extent, that he possesses this 
freedom of choice. 

1 Matt, xiii, 38, 39. 

49 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

With this thought of the beginnings of 
the kingdom of God with which all are 
endowed, and the freedom resulting, we 
will turn to the question of the means of 
a direct culture of the inner or spiritual 
life. 

The power of the spirit in controlling 
the actions, recognized in all ages by phi- 
losophers, has received a new and pecu- 
liar emphasis to-day in the various forms 
of mental science. But this peculiar em- 
phasis has been generally attended by a 
peculiar weakness, namely, the direction 
of mental forces to the healing of the 
physical body rather than to the healing 
of the far deeper diseases or evils of the 
soul. 

There are various methods in which 
50 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

all, through the power of the truth, may 
cultivate the inner or spiritual life di- 
rectly, and the actions indirectly. The 
most universal form of the law of spirit- 
ual culture is told by the apostle to the 
Gentiles: "Walk in the Spirit, and ye 
shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. . . . 
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk 
in the spirit." * If we have the inner 
faith, the inner truth, the inner purpose, 
and if our effort is to preserve it alive, 
and keep it awake and active, the result 
will be, must be, to overcome the various 
lusts of the flesh. If our very "life," our 
deepest love, is in the spirit, our "walk," 
that is, our activities in this world, will 
be spiritualized, and it will be easy to 

1 Galatians v, 16, 25. 

si 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

obey the laws of justice, service, or right- 
eousness. As the same apostle says 
again: "For our citizenship is in hea- 
ven, from which also we look for the 
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." * 

We need to become conscious, and in 
these days, rationally conscious, of our 
heavenly citizenship; conscious not only 
of the fact of a world and life to come, 
but of the nobler fact that we are created 
to become, by our own voluntary choice, 
citizens of a heavenly realm, ruled by a 
God of love, who yearns to give us of 
His own life, His own sweet rewards, if 
we, like Him, are willing to lay down 
our selfish life in all its forms, and learn 

1 Philippians,iii, 20, revised version. 

52 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

the meaning of the new commandment 
to love one another. 1 

Instead of saying, "one world at a 
time," let us seek that spirit which will 
make the best of both worlds, and make 
of this life a schooling for a nobler ex- 
istence. Instead of a sneer at "other- 
worldliness" as a deeper form of selfish- 
ness, we should remember that a true 
conception of the kingdom of God and 
its citizenship requires us to overcome 
all worldliness and selfishness, open or 
disguised. He who walks in the spirit 



1 There is really no excuse to-day for disbelief in a per- 
sonal life after death, which is now almost scientifically 
demonstrated. We may with reason disapprove the 
methods of demonstration (there are good reasons for such 
disapproval), but one must be either blind or willful, or 
at least indifferent, to deny the fact to-day. 

S3 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

never masquerades. He walks in the 
light 

There are methods by which this inner 
life can be strengthened. 

One of these is the right use of the 
first day of the week. Is there no sig- 
nificance in the fact that in the few short 
sentences which God is said to have 
spoken with His own voice in the hear- 
ing of all Israel as the constitution of His 
kingdom on earth, one of His "ten 
words" should be, "Remember the Sab- 
bath day to keep it holy"? And while 
the Jewish form of observance is not 
ours, yet is it true that the presence on 
earth of the spirit of heaven requires 
that it should have a dwelling in time 
and space. There must be a suitable 

54 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

season and a suitable place. Hence the 
Sunday and the church. Without these 
visible and recognized foundations it 
would be much more difficult, and per- 
haps impossible to preserve religion if 
not morality in the community. And 
may not the change of the Sabbath day 
from the last to the first day of the week 
suggest to us that we should "seek first 
the kingdom of God and His righteous- 
ness," and that the great truths cultivated 
on the first day of the week should rule 
the conduct during the other six days? 
This of course does not mean that 
thoughts of the deep things of life should 
be limited to any given time or place, but 
only that they should not be deprived of 
this foundation. Every day should have 

55 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

its serious moments, its seasons of reflec- 
tion, self-examination, prayer and spirit- 
ual refreshment. And this suggests an- 
other means of spiritual culture, namely, 
meditation. 

Religious meditation stands in bold 
contrast with religious culture as a mere 
external and, for the most part, public 
form, hurried through — a form of es- 
thetics, or, at best, of ethics, which need 
not interfere with one's deep worldliness, 
and yet has power to lull the soul into a 
sense of security. But the religion of the 
Bible is more personal than public. The 
Psalmist prays, not only that the words 
of his mouth, but the meditation of his 
heart, may be acceptable in God's sight. 1 

1 Psalm xix, 14. 

56 






SPIRITUAL LIVING 

He prays, "Give ear to my words; con- 
sider my meditation/' l He cries, "O 
how love I thy law; it is my meditation 
all the day." The first command given 
to Joshua was: "This book of the law 
shall not depart out of thy mouth, but 
thou shalt meditate therein day and 
night, that thou mayest observe to do ac- 
cording to all that is written therein; for 
then thou shalt make thy way prosper- 
ous, and then thou shalt have good suc- 
cess." If we love the Lord's law, we 
shall surely meditate upon it. It will 
be a matter of personal interest to us. 
We shall think of it when we are alone, 
and in hours or moments of leisure. By 
such reflection the inner life is fed with 

1 Psalm v, I. 2 Psalm cxix, 97. 3 Joshua i, 8. 

57 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

spiritual nutriment; the soul gathers 
strength to resist the wrong, and do the 
right. And so the apostle writes: "Med- 
itate upon these things; give thyself 
wholly to them; that thy profiting may 
appear to all." ] The inner or spiritual 
life, and its power over the actions, re- 
quire meditation. A good rule of life is 
that of one of the world's greatest men: 
"To read often and meditate well upon 
the Word of the Lord." 2 

Another vital element in interior spir- 
itual culture is the preservation and 
strengthening of the Ideal Life. The 
soul of the Ideal, as already mentioned, 
is the gift of heaven to infancy and child- 
hood. What is called the ideal state of 

1 1 Timothy iv, 1 5 . 3 Swedenborg. 

58 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

youth is simply this early state coming 
to consciousness, fortified by right spir- 
itual instruction brought in contrast with 
the developing heredity of worldliness. 
It is this which Wordsworth feels but 
does not attempt to explain in his noblest 
poem, "Intimations of Immortality from 
the Recollections of Early Childhood." 

"Not in entire forgetfulness, 

And not in utter nakedness, 
But trailing clouds of glory do we come 

From God, who is our home 
Heaven lies about us in our infancy! 
Shades of the prison house begin to close 

Upon the growing boy; 
But he beholds the light, and whence it 
flows — 

He sees it in his joy. 
The youth, who daily farther from the 
east 

Must travel, still is Nature's priest, 

And by the vision splendid 

Is on his way attended; 

59 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

At length the man perceives it die away, 
And fade into the light of common day." 

The Ideal (once the ideally Real) 
tends to fade away, but it must be made 
practically real, if heaven's hold on man 
is to continue. 

We are living in what is called an age 
of Realism, in which the things farthest 
removed from the source and spirit of 
life are by the multitude seemingly re- 
garded as the most real. The modern 
doctrine of evolution, which has ap- 
peared to teach that the upward trend of 
life comes through the law of Natural 
Selection, that is, of selfishness, tends 
temporarily, at least, to weaken faith in 
the power of the spiritual or the ideal. 
Man seems at first to be lowered through 

60 






SPIRITUAL LIVING 

this phase of natural science to the level 
of the animal. But the most modern of 
spiritual philosophers resists this view. 
He tells us that by recognizing an inde- 
pendent spiritual life, one's close con- 
nection with nature will have the power 
of lifting nature; that it is not natural 
science which leads us into naturalism, 
but the weakness of our spiritual convic- 
tions, the suspicion that there is perhaps 
no spiritual existence at all. 1 

Here, probably, is our chief difficulty 
— in the human heart, not merely faith- 
less, but willingly faithless; relieved at 

1 Rudolph Eucken, "Problem of Human Life," p. 542. 
"Napoleon himself, the Arch-Realist, ascribed his down- 
fall not primarily to the diplomacy of statecraft, or to the 
power of the bayonet, but to the resistance of the German 
Ideologists.' ' Idem, p. 464. And he adds that Ger- 
many's recent progress is due to the same idealism. 

61 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

the thought of escaping responsibility; 
welcoming the appearance that all is 
well; that human will has little to do 
with human progress; glad of the free- 
dom to eat, drink, and enjoy; glad to re- 
peat Pilate's despairing or sneering 
question, "What is truth?" The latest 
psychological dictum, that man is what 
he wills, is in accord with the noblest 
assertion of revelation: "If any man 
willeth to do his will, he shall know of 
the doctrine, whether it be of God, or 
whether I speak from myself." * We can 
make the state of the world, or the super- 
ficial facts of science an excuse for doing 
as we will, or, on the other hand, we can 
follow our noblest thoughts, our highest 

1 John vii, 17, revised. 

62 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

lights, or the ideals of childhood and 
youth, which are justified and confirmed 
not only by the highest reaches of revela- 
tion, especially in the divinely human 
life of the gospels, but by the best human 
experience in all ages. 

Observe that in the revised and correct 
version of John vii, 17, the emphasis is 
laid on the inner life, and not merely on 
the action. "If any man willeth to do." 
Observe also the result of this inner state 
of the will: "he shall know!' Keep the 
inner life pure, and so open to the un- 
seen presences and powers, which bring 
intelligent conviction as well as strength. 
Spiritual realities will then become mat- 
ters of knowledge rather than theory. 
They will be felt. And then one can 

63 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

more easily put his trust in them. While 
he will not neglect in the least the duties 
of this life; while he will never relax his 
efforts to care for those dependent upon 
him, he will grow less and less anxious 
about worldly comfort, honor, or suc- 
cess. He will know that earthly depri- 
vation may be the shortest road to real 
success. The words of the apostle will 
become luminous: "Wherefore we faint 
not; but though our outward man is de- 
caying, yet our inward man is renewed 
day by day. For our light affliction, 
which is for the moment, worketh for us 
more and more exceedingly an eternal 
weight of glory; . . . while we look 
not at the things which are seen, but at 
the things which are not seen: for the 

6 4 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

things which are seen are temporal; but 
the things which are not seen are eter- 
nal." x 

A true man may grow to be even more 
thankful for his disappointments and 
sorrows than for his successes or his joys. 
Whatever finally results in a more com- 
plete dependence on a Divine and loving 
Power is surely right. 

But not only through the direct activi- 
ties of the spiritual or religious plane of 
the mind, but by means of the secular 
plane as well, and apart from what we 
call practical life, may the interests of 
the higher life be subserved. There is a 
wide margin of choice in one's intimate 
companionships, Books, conversations, or 

1 II Corinthians iv, 16-18, revised version. 

65 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

diversions. All these necessary features 
of our earthly life may be made tributary 
to the noblest purpose, or they can easily 
be used to weaken or destroy it. If we 
cannot find the best, there is always a 
choice between the better and the worse. 
Or, whenever compelled by circum- 
stances to associate for the time with 
people and things that are not of the 
best, it is possible, without ostentation, 
to uphold the right, the uplifting, the 
pure. A well-known example is that 
ascribed to General Grant. When one 
of a company was proceeding to intro- 
duce a questionable story, by the remark, 
"I believe there are no ladies present," 
the General is said to have responded 
quietly, "No, but I think there are some 

66 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

gentlemen. " There could hardly be a 
stronger rebuke, and yet no more brave 
or kindly one, more free from Pharisaic 
purism, or more likely to lead to helpful 
issues. Such opportunities are open to 
us all; and happy is he who can meet 
them in the spirit of the Master, without 
temper, or excitement, or blame, but in 
remembrance of our common infirmity, 
our common need, our common Helper. 
There may be such a thing as righteous 
anger, but there is something far better, 
which is told in the words: "By this 
shall all men know that ye are my dis- 
ciples if ye have love one to another." x 



^ohn xiii, 35. 

67 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 



IV 

All that has been said respecting the 
culture of the inner or spiritual life may 
be summed up in the statement that the 
law of that life, even when we regard it 
as wholly apart from what we call prac- 
tical affairs, is a thinkable, practicable, 
usable law. But it requires faith and 
love, patience and endurance. It is an 
appeal to the person. It can be fulfilled 
only by the devotion of the individual 
soul. Although a law, it cannot be 
obeyed by any mechanism of prayer, 
or words, or ritual. To obey it one 
must be alone. Nothing must inter- 

68 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

vene between the heart and its Maker. 
Thus only can one realize the truth dis- 
covered by the penitent David: "Behold, 
thou desirest truth in the inward parts, 
and in the hidden part thou wilt make 
me to know wisdom." 1 Thus only shall 
we heed the wisdom of the wise man: 
"Keep thine heart with all diligence, for 
out of it are the issues of life." 2 

But while the two lives, the inner and 
the outer, have their distinct realms of 
activity, each independent of the other, 
yet there are times when they must be 
united as motive and action, as soul and 
body. The spiritual life is a life whose 
motive force consists in a belief in, and 
love for the life which the Lord Jesus 

1 Psalm li, 6. 2 Proverbs iv, 23. 

69 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

Christ reveals, thus a life of love and 
service to fellowmen. The germ of this 
life, bestowed as a gift in early years, 
will grow like a seed warmed by the sun 
and watered by the rain, when we on our 
part are faithful. And we are faithful 
when we are obedient to the law of the 
Decalogue in the spirit of the new com- 
mandment of love in the gospel, whose 
constant and practical form is seen in the 
law of use or of service; and in the law 
of faithfulness to every duty involved in 
our occupation in life. 

We recall the bright promise which 
the Divine revelation sets before us, espe- 
cially in its closing chapters. 1 The evils 
of the world are but temporary. The 

1 Revelation xxi and xxii. 

70 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

tabernacle of God is to be with men. Al- 
though clouds and darkness are round 
about Him, the Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ reigns. He is to come in the 
clouds (not literally, but spiritually), 
and reveal the glory of His wisdom and 
His love. All power is His in heaven 
and on earth. 1 

At times it is only possible for us to 
be true to the outer or literal law; that 
is, to compel ourselves in seasons of 
temptation to follow the rules of action 
revealed to us in earlier years, as right, 
as Divine. Obeyed thus, even self-com- 
pulsion leads on to spirituality. 

Then there are seasons of cultivation 
of the inner or spiritual life directly; 

1 Matt, xxviii, 18. 

71 



WHAT CONSTITUTES 

through the culture of the ideal, through 
reading, meditation, worship, prayer, as 
well as through the best use of our free- 
dom in all our leisure hours. 

And then there are times when the 
inner and the outer life may unite in one 
— when love and faith inspired from on 
high can join in acts of loving use to 
men. And this will be more and more 
the case with those who, remembering 
that religion is a matter of daily life, 
strive to keep before them the need of 
this union of motive and deed, according 
to that grand generalization of human 
duty which speaks, like a trumpet tone, 
to every human soul in any and every 
condition and every age: 

"He hath showed thee, O man, what 
72 



SPIRITUAL LIVING 

is good; and what doth the Lord require 
of thee, but to do justly, and to love 
mercy, and to walk humbly with thy 
God." 1 



1 Micah vi, 8. 



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